Joe's cutting edge

JOE Summerhill was in Manchester getting his hair cut when the IRA bomb that tore out its centre, exploded. Like most of us caught up in the events of that shocking day in 1996, it is something he will never forget.

JOE Summerhill was in Manchester getting his hair cut when the IRA bomb that tore out its centre, exploded.

Like most of us caught up in the events of that shocking day in 1996, it is something he will never forget.

"I remember it vividly. It was June 15, and a beautiful sunny day," he recalls.

But he hardly realised how significant the day would be in his own life.

Despite more than 300 people suffering injury, some of these seriously, no-one was killed, and when the dust settled the terrorist incident allowed the city to be reborn with a new heart.

Joe was among those at the forefront of re-shaping the new Manchester, because it was to project management company Mace, whose Northern operations he heads, that the city council went for help in rescuing the city from devastation, turning tragedy into triumph in its rebuilding.

Challenging task

"The bomb was a challenging task. It was a terrible thing, but actually it was a catalyst for regeneration, and it demonstrated to the government just what could be done in short order," says Joe.

It was also a springboard for other ground-breaking developments, with Mace playing an instrumental part in the government's agenda for regeneration and change.

A team of around 70 works out of the Manchester offices of the company which employs around 1,000 staff and has won a string of awards.

The Manchester office went on help deliver schemes such as the City of Manchester Stadium, No 1 Deansgate, SportCity, Castlefield Quay and the Metrolink, and it has forged a reputation for path-finding developments farther afield - for example it is working with the bid team aiming to bring the Olympics to London in 2012.

Whether the Capital wins the bid or not, there will still be a huge regeneration job to be done, and Mace is involved in the planning.

Joe's, passion for regeneration stems from his early years in the North East. Born in Middlesbrough he saw enough run-down and neglected districts to want to make a difference.

Construction

His father, and brother were also in the construction industry, and it seemed a natural thing to follow the same path - though there was a time when he thought he might have become a professional footballer.

He was on the books at Arsenal and Middlesbrough. "I was quite good at one stage," he muses, admitting that he occasionally wonders 'what if' he had made it to the top in soccer.

But he now contents himself with being an avid fan, following Manchester City, and still passionately supporting his home team of Middlesbrough.

He was ecstatic when the team recently won its first major domestic trophy in 128 years, beating Bolton 2-1 in the Carling Cup Final - but frustratingly had to catch it on the run because at the time he was at the airport in Vienna.

Joe spends a lot of time in the world's airports, because he travels thousands of miles a year, much of it in pursuit of another great enthusiasm - as a top judge of German Shepherd dogs.

Since he had his first dog called Shane, when he was 15, he has been hooked on the breed.

"We had an allotment and we needed a guard dog. I got Shane, and I have loved the breed every since, and have always had one," he says.

Nantwich

Today, he travels the world judging, but also owns 12 dogs which he keeps at his farm near Nantwich, where he has opened commercial boarding kennels which are run by his partner Karen.

And up-market they are too. "I have used all my skills to build them. There is underfloor heating, they have plastic walls, and rubber floor covering," says Joe, for whom his beloved dogs are the work antidote others find in relaxations like golf.

His other great joy are his five children - and he rates having maintained a good relationship with them despite being divorced and spending thousands of miles globe-trotting, as one of the key achievements of his life.

Joe spent his early years in Nigeria, where his father was working, and he grew up speaking Swahili and Xhosa, but came back to England when he was 11 to complete his education, going on to Newcastle University to study construction management, then joining John Laing and learning the business from the bottom up.

"But the industry was different then, and progressing up the ladder was difficult. It was like waiting for dead men's shoes," he says.

So he took off to work for a year or so on schemes in the Middle East, "earning his Rolex" and when he returned was invited to work for Laing again.

Mace

In 1996, he joined Mace - "because they are a very forward-looking company" - he says - and the rebuilding of Manchester was a huge opportunity for him.

It brought what he calls "a defining moment in my life", when he met Rodney Anderson, a former director of Cheshire global construction and engineering giant Amec.

"He is an amazing man, a human dynamo. We forged a tremendous alliance," says Joe. In fact they hit if off so well that in January 2000 they set up a company, C2C, and began rolling out regeneration schemes in cities like Sheffield and Liverpool.

The company was soon very successfully spreading its wings - and in September 2002 it was bought out by Mace, now forming part of that group, with Joe as its managing director.

We are talking in his office, which is appropriately in a renovated mill in the Castlefield area of the city, and his enthusiasm to see new life breathed into old areas, especially for the life-changing effect it can bring to the community, is obvious.

Delivering the Commonwealth Games Stadium was a feat to be proud of in itself. But with it went a major challenge - cleaning up the Ashton Canal corridor.

There were 18 scrapyards alone in the area and relocating such businesses and cleaning up the area generally in time for the Games was a huge task.

"We had 18 months to do it in, and people said it could not be done, but it was," he says with some relish.

Central Park

Central Park, the latest ambitious project in which Mace is involved, will create in East Manchester the UK's first bespoke urban business park, but it is not just about super new buildings.

"The important thing is what it will do for the community. People living there now will know there will be new employment for their sons and daughters - 15,000 jobs will be created in 12 years, and having been part of that is very rewarding," he states.

It reflects the philosophy of Joe and his team, who remind themselves of the purpose of their business through the words of Daniel Burnham in his Plan of Chicago (1909) who said: "We should make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's blood.

"Aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram, once recorded, will never die."

Joe's involvement in blood-stirring schemes has got him noticed - he has, for example, been asked to sit on a government board which is looking at ways of exporting the UK's expertise in regeneration.